JOSHUA - Chapter 23

Now it came to pass, a long time after YAHWEH had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua was old, advanced in age. And Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers, and said to them:

"I am old, advanced in age. You have seen all that YAHWEH your Elohim has done to all these nations because of you, for YAHWEH your Elohim is He who has fought for you. See, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, as far as the Great Sea westward. And YAHWEH your Elohim will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land, as YAHWEH your Elohim promised you.

"Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, and lest you go among these nations, these who remain among you. You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them; you shall not serve them nor bow down to them, but you shall hold fast to YAHWEH your Elohim, as you have done to this day.

"For YAHWEH has driven out from before you great and strong nations; but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand, for YAHWEH your Elohim is He who fights for you, as He promised you. Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love YAHWEH your Elohim. Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations—these that remain among you—and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, know for certain that YAHWEH your Elohim will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which YAHWEH your Elohim has given you.

"Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which YAHWEH your Elohim spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which YAHWEH your Elohim promised you, so YAHWEH will bring upon you all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which YAHWEH your Elohim has given you.

"When you have transgressed the covenant of YAHWEH your Elohim, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of YAHWEH will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you."

Chapter 24

Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before Elohim.

And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says YAHWEH Elohim of Israel: 'Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.

'Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out. Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. So they cried out to YAHWEH; and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you dwelt in the wilderness a long time.

'And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand. Then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you—also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your hand.

'I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.'

"Now therefore, fear YAHWEH, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve YAHWEH! And if it seems evil to you to serve YAHWEH, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve YAHWEH."

So the people answered and said: "Far be it from us that we should forsake YAHWEH to serve other gods; for YAHWEH our Elohim is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. And YAHWEH drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve YAHWEH, for He is our Elohim."

But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve YAHWEH, for He is a holy Elohim. He is a jealous Elohim; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake YAHWEH and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good."

And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve YAHWEH!"

So Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen YAHWEH for yourselves, to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses!"

"Now therefore," he said, "put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to YAHWEH Elohim of Israel."

And the people said to Joshua, "YAHWEH our Elohim we will serve, and His voice we will obey!"

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of Elohim. And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of YAHWEH. And Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of YAHWEH which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your Elohim."

So Joshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance.

Now it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of YAHWEH, died, being one hundred and ten years old. And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Serah, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.

Israel served YAHWEH all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of YAHWEH which He had done for Israel. The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph. And Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in a hill belonging to Phinehas his son, which was given to him in the mountains of Ephraim.

HalleluYah!